In general, the receipt of multiple customer orders from a variety of sources can make the task of manufacturing products with associated technical documentation extremely burdensome. Typically, technical information associated with manufactured products are printed far in advance of a sale in large quantities. If there is need to make even a minor change to the technical information, the entire quantity of printed material must be thrown out. In addition, this documentation must to stored in a safe, dry place at a considerable cost and expense. For a global enterprise, this documentation must be already printed in numerous languages and then shipped to the location where the product is sold.
Another major complication arising from the receipt of multiple customer orders from a variety of sources is the inability to maximize manufacturing productivity by minimizing setups, optimizing shop floor activities, and so forth.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.